less than two months are left for the Joint Entrance Examination and the students are gearing up for the same. Ramesh Batlishtells you how to tackle this test which has become more tricky than tough
For students aspiring to enter a prestigious engineering college, this is inarguably the most crucial time of the year. With less than two months to go for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains, aspirants are now entering the final lap of their preparations. Nervousness, anxiety and tension are bound to be high as young students go through repeated rounds of mock tests to gauge their levels of readiness.
The exam is scheduled for April 7, when the offline test will be conducted, and students will appear for the online version from April 8 to April 25. Competition may be cut-throat but the students who ultimately make it to the selected category are the ones with the clearest concepts and two years of organised and dedicated preparation. Equally important for an aspirant is appropriate study material. The students need to approach every set of problems differently and with a separate methodology. Regular practice makes a student confident to tackle the problems. Speed and Accuracy is the key to success.
According to general analysis, about 25 per cent questions in the examination paper are easy, 50 per cent are average and 25 per cent difficult. last year, the JEE (Mains) mathematics and physics sections were definitely difficult as compared to JEE (Mains) 2011. chemistry was relatively simple. So, here is what a student needs to do to ace this exam.
Tips
Try conventional methods first
If they don’t work, try to understand the problem again and find clues that can lead you to solution
Go through the concepts related to the problem again and see how they can be applied to the problem at hand
Relate the problem to real-life situations. It will help to analyse it better
Consult the solution, only when one has exhausted all the limits. See what had missed earlier
Practice similar problems. Doing 100 quality and concepts based questions is more important than doing 1000 questions which have not been selected carefully
Devise shortcuts and ways to tackle particular kind of problems
It has been observed that those who crack JEE (Mains) are the ones who do well in chemistry. A week before the exam, give four hours to brush up concepts of organic, three hours to inorganic and an hour for physical. Try to attempt chemistry in the first hour as it has some easy questions and if one can solve them in the first hour and will feel confident. This will increase efficiency. Chemistry is the most scoring of all. Just read the concepts of thermodynamics and chemical equilibrium. Some questions from these parts are just conceptual. So clear the concepts and one can cover 40 per cent of the questions from these two topics itself.
Always attempt theoretical questions first and then questions which require calculation. It’s human nature that if one attempts a few confident questions in the beginning then one has positive energy which increases efficiency and speed for the rest of the paper. It is advisable to avoid numerical questions in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the exam.
In the last two weeks before the exam, aspirants must revise all the formulas and the important points rather than studying new topics. One must study all three subjects daily. Here is a step-by-step guideline for what aspirants must do in the last two weeks:
Make a time-table for the coming 12 days to revise the syllabus. The time table must be developed in such a way that will give maximum time to the strengths. For example, if a student is strong in electrostatics then revise electrostatics, giving enough time to it so that one is sure of every concept of it. If a student is not thorough in modern physics, then only revise whatever topics that have studied. Don’t study anything new in the last week
nCover the syllabus within next seven days. Now, revise the syllabus once
nTake a few mock tests to check the speed and accuracy
nIdentify the gaps and problem areas — where one is wasting maximum time. Try to analyse where one is making mistakes and which section one is doing best. Whatever mistakes one makes in first paper try to remove in second. In this way the student will be better prepared for the main exam. What most students do is that they revise whole of the syllabus but do not attempt a mock and thus they make mistakes in main exam.
The Day before
Do not study anything. One needs to stay calm, confident and trust in oneself
One should be excited about JEE (Mains) and that one can crack it easily
Relax or indulge in meditation to soothe the nerves
One should not ask friends how much they have studied. One doesn’t need unnecessary pressure on the penultimate day
Have a sound sleep for at least six to seven hours before going for the exam.
The most important requirement for cracking JEE is clarity of concepts and regular practice in problem solving. The exam is not difficult, but tricky, and hence its questions need to be tackled with different tactics and perspectives. Both speed and strike rate matter. The student needs to be quick and accurate to achieve high scores. High speed with less accuracy can actually ruin results. While preparation counts, of importance also is selecting questions wisely and not panicking while attempting the paper. If one can solve easy and average questions correctly, one can easily get through. One may attempt difficult ones to make merit.
(The writer is a Professor with FIITJEE)
